nd elks, and antelopes, and prairie dogs,
and wolves, and buffaloes, were seen in great numbers continually, and
were shot in abundance, but he would have recorded that Bertram did, on
one occasion, in the height of his enthusiastic daring, give a shout and
draw one of his blunderbuss-pistols, on observing a grisly bear at a
short distance ahead of him; that he dashed his heels violently against
the sides of his remarkable horse; that the said horse did toss his
head, shake his bottle-brush, and rush full tilt towards the bear until
he caught sight of it, when he turned off at a sharp angle, leaving
Bertram on the plain at the mercy of the bear; that Bruin, who was in
nowise alarmed, observing his condition, came to see what was the matter
with him; and that he, Mr Bertram, would certainly have fallen a victim
to his own headstrong courage on the one hand, and to the bear's known
tendency to rend human beings on the other, had not March come up at
that moment and shot it through the heart, while Redhand shot it through
the brain.

And this supposed conscientious chronicler of events, had he been a
naturalist, would have further detailed, with graphic particularity, the
rich, exuberant, and varied _flora_ of the region--from the largest
plant that waved and blossomed in the prairie winds to the lowliest
floweret that nestled among the tender and sweet-scented grasses on the
prairie's breast. In regard to the _fauna_ of those regions, he would
have launched out upon the form, the colour, size, habits,
peculiarities, etcetera, of every living thing, from the great buffalo
(which he would have carefully explained was _not_ the buffalo, but the
_bison_) down to the sly, impudent, yet harmless little prairie dog
(which he would have also carefully noted was _not_ the prairie dog, but
the marmot).

Had this supposed recorder of facts been of an erratic nature, given to
wander from anecdote to description, and _vice versa_, he would perhaps
have told, in a parenthetical sort of way, how that, during these three
weeks, the trappers enjoyed uninterrupted fine weather; how the artist
sketched so indefatigably that he at last filled his book to overflowing
and had to turn it upside down, begin at the end, and sketch on the
backs of his previous drawings; how Big Waller and Black Gibault became
inseparable friends and sang duets together when at full gallop, the
latter shrieking like a wild-cat, the former roaring like a buffalo